Day three was the first day we had to set an alarm clock to wake up at a designated time, but I didn’t even care. We were on our way to see a GLACIER! And, even better – we were going to see it while riding in a little Zodiac Boat!! When I was planning what we wanted to do in Iceland, I had three top things I wanted to see: One was Vik, one was a glacier, and one was some of the Western Fjords. So I was just giddy to be finally checking off one of my “Must-See” things (especially since our first stop into Vik didn’t really count for me since technically I couldn’t see a thing).

We finished our drive from just passed Skaftafell to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon area – just about a 45-minute drive. As soon as you cross over the bridge, these glaciers just loom up out of the mist from down in the water. It was one of the most eerily beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. Seriously phenomenal colors, textures, shapes, and patterns. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the same pieces of glacier, and marveling at how amazing “just” a chunk of ice could be.

 

 

 

 

 

After walking around the waterline and gazing for a bit, we got ready for our boat tour! We used icelagoon.com to book our boat tour, and I just realized, when I looked up their site, that they don’t book tours past the middle of September! So be sure to come before then, because this was seriously incredible and I would highly recommend a boat tour to anyone coming to see the glacier! I also read that booking a Zodiac tour is better than booking an Amphibian boat tour because you are able to get much closer to the face of the Lagoon, there are less people on the boat with you, and it lasts a little bit longer. They provided us with a warm suit to wear, but I had come super overly prepared with warm clothes and ended up needing to take a few layers off before I got into my suit!

 

 

The views were incredible right from the start. Our tour guide told us that the top of the iceberg – the part that we can see floating above the water, is only 10% of the actual size of the entire iceberg. Somebody asked if a particular iceberg would still be there a week from now and the guide said absolutely not. The icebergs literally change every day. Every day different pieces fall from the glacier and slide out into the lagoon, and everyday the icebergs are melting into different shapes and sizes.

 

 

Our boat driver was pretty nonchalant – I mean, clearly he did this everyday for a job. I was about to ask him how he knew where to steer so we didn’t run over a super huge chunk of ice that was just barely hiding under the surface of the water when he goes and does exactly that – just cruises right over the top of a ton of ice, and all of us kind of grimace but the boat just screeches a bit and clacks and clanks are felt and heard underneath, but still we keep on going at the same speed. “Have to keep things interesting,” the boat driver says with a smile.

 

 

So here is a panoramic shot of the face of the glacier. This is where it all starts and breaks off from here to float into the water. In one of the photos you can see another boat doing a tour and it really gives you a perspective of just how huge this glacier is. While we were idling in front of the glacier, we heard a creaking and a groaning and then a huge piece of ice broke off and splashed into the water.

 

 

 

Our tour guide invited us all to reach in and grab a piece of fresh, Icelandic ice and take a nibble….

 

 

After we finished our boat tour, we drove just across the street to the other side of the bridge where the lagoon met the ocean. Here we found more huge chunks of ice that had been washed up onto the shore, giving the beach glittery punches of crystal and sparkle. Everyone was running up to the ice, taking a few quick photos, and then dashing back up the shoreline as quick as they could before a freezing cold wave could reach them.

After we finally pulled ourselves away from the positively mind-warping beauty of the glacier and these icebergs, we had to regroup our plans and our trip a little bit. I had run into some scheduling mishaps with reservations for the Blue Lagoon, and so a few of our plans went up into the air. Adam had originally wanted to continue to travel east a bit farther to the fishing town of Hofn. I wanted to do this, too, but I also wanted to catch a ferry to the Westman Islands. But, after checking out the ferry schedule, we realized we wouldn’t be able to do that either. We were both pretty bummed, and I was especially disappointed in myself because I just love my plans and I hate the feeling of “wasting” time while visiting a new place. I’m just the type of person who wants to “see it all, do it all” while I’m there. But that’s the beautiful thing about travel – you get out of it the attitude you put into it. We decided to just take a deep breath, explore, and enjoy.

We absolutely loved being able to see a totally different view on the way back along the coastline, even though we were taking the exact same road. The sky was so much more clear this time around, and we could see so much more of the country’s terrain. I would just sit and stare out the window, my elbow propped up on the door and my chin in my hands, and with every house we passed I would mumble, “Do you think they know?”

And Adam would say, “Know what?”

“Do you think they enjoy where they live? I mean, really enjoy? Do you think they know how lucky they are? Do you think they ever just go out in their backyard and hike up the mountain that sits two feet outside their backdoor and marvel at the beauty of the place they call their home? Do you think they take advantage of the beauty that us tourists only dream about waking up to every morning? Do you think they love living here?”

Look closely in the next few photos – every single photo has a home cozily nestled into the glory of the land surrounding it. Remote, almost untouched, and serenely perfect.

So now we were on our way back along the southern coast line, with a bit of spare free time since Hofn and the ferry didn’t work out. Adam saw this gorgeous cliffside looming in front of us, and shortly thereafter, a Point of Interest sign enticing us to pull in. We found a sun-filled grassy field covering the cliff and a quiet black sand beach just waiting for us. There was also a sign to mark the trail head to a path that led to a centuries-old graveyard that has VIKINGS buried in it. We didn’t do the hike, but my mind was boggled just thinking about bodies that old being buried in this hillside.

As we kept going, I could clearly see the oh-so-distinct rocks of Vik reaching up out of the ocean. My heart burst with excitement. I was finally going to get to see the beaches of Vik! The weather was beautiful and the skies were at least much clearer than they were the first time we had cruised through this cute little village. But before we reached Vik, we had to stop to provide the sheep – which are found EVERYWHERE in Iceland – some glamour shots.

We took our time exploring this beach and taking endless amounts of photos. We stocked up on groceries here, too, from a sleepy little store with overpriced food but we didn’t even care. We bought more chocolate to last us the rest of our roadtrip, and even tried BBQ-flavored Doritos (I really wanted to get the “Cool American” flavor, even though I already knew what they tasted like; I just liked the name so much!) After Vik, we went down the other side of the peninsula that we didn’t travel down last time. Last time we drove down Road 218, on the Dyrhólaey side of the Peninsula. But I was looking for the BASALT COLUMNS. I had seen pictures of them but wasn’t 100% positive how to find them. On a whim we decided to drive down the 215, on the Reynisfjara side…and lo and behold! Jack pot!! We had found the Reynishverfi beach!

I do have to note here that it was shortly after I took this photo that I got a TON of crud in my camera, somehow, somewhere. I don’t know, but my images were DIRTY. I was so glad I had brought another camera body with me so I could keep taking awesome photos the rest of the week! After we had explored our little hearts out, we hopped back in our car and drove until it got dark. We found ourselves parking the car just across the street from where we had parked on our very first night in Iceland, just near the Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. We heated up left-over soggy spaghetti and binged on REAL chocolate. Tomorrow I would finally be revealing the HUGE surprise that I had been planning for Adam for a long time…and he still had no idea what it was!!

Iceland | Day One: Our Camper Van, Icelandic Ponies, Foreign Grocery Shopping, Urrioafoss, Seljalandsfoss, and Gljufrabui Waterfalls

Iceland | Day Two: Skogafoss, Seljavellir Geothermal Pool, Dyrholaey, and Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon